


Marked in Memory

by UlisaBarbic



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Confused Son Goku (Dragon Ball), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Goku loves his family, Goku returns home, Hurt/Comfort, Husbands, Idiots in Love, Married Life, Mature Love, Memories, Post-Majin Buu Saga, Reunions, Smart Son Goku (Dragon Ball), goku loves chi chi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-15 07:20:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29804892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UlisaBarbic/pseuds/UlisaBarbic
Summary: ChiChi feels insecure since Goku’s return from the Afterlife. After all, she’s aged 7 years and he has not. Luckily, her husband knows just what to say.A birthday gift for kaychi!
Relationships: Chi-Chi/Son Goku (Dragon Ball)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 36





	Marked in Memory

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kaychi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaychi/gifts).



“Whatcha doin’, Chi?”

The human woman turned, frowned and folded her arms. “Goku! How long have you been standin’ there?”

With a coy grin, he pushed off from the doorframe. “Long enough. Sorry if I scared ya. I was enjoyin’ the view.”

Looking down at herself, only clothed in her underwear and bra, ChiChi attempted to feel indignant but decided it wasn’t worth the trouble. Wrapping her self in a robe, she settled down at her vanity instead, absentmindedly running the brush through her hair. She may have let out a low ‘hmph!’ for good measure.

Goku flopped on their bed, belly down, still not taking his eyes off her. “Ya didn’t have to do that. I like the view without the robe.”

“I’m cold,” she answered curtly.

Frowning, Goku pouted, watching her slowly. Her movements were very deliberate, focused and set. He could smell the uncertainty on her. Truthfully, he’d been feeling it ever since he came back after Buu. Oh, she’d been ecstatic when he came home but there was something underlying that was bothering her.

Sitting up, Goku shifted and stood, coming up behind her and gently prying the brush out of her hands. 

“Goku!”

“Let me,” he interrupted her tirade. “I missed gettin’ to play with your hair.”

For a moment, it looked like she might argue but she relented, leaning back. “I missed it too.”

Starting slow, near her scalp, Goku ran it down the length of her hair, letting it fall loose and free on her back when he was done. Then, he’d start at the top again, running down once more. “I like it when your hair’s loose.”

ChiChi smiled a bit “I know you do. You always did. It gets in the way when I wear it loose though.” With a light giggle, she reminded him, “Cooking and long hair don’t mix very well. You’d be picking my hairs out of your food.”

“I’d probably not notice,” he admitted.

Picturing the way he shoveled in food like it was going to run away, she supposed that was probably true and smiled, arching her head back slightly. His administrations were relaxing. “Maybe I’ll let it down a little more.”

Grinning, Goku bent over and teased her neck with a kiss. “I’d like that.”

Oddly enough, she came right awake and jerked from his gesture, folding in on herself. That relaxing atmosphere was shattered like glass. “Chi?”

She didn’t say anything and Goku didn’t pressure her. Instead, he sat the brush down and waited. Silence was awkward and it had always worked before. 

Sure enough, she gave a shuddery breath. “Goku, don’t tease me like thst.”

Blinking, surprised, he asked, “What? Why? I thought you liked that.”

“I did—I do but not anymore.”

Scratching his head, more than a little bit baffled, Goku asked “If you’re worried about the kids, I can be quiet if I wanna be.”

“It’s not that. They’re YOUR sons. If they’re out, they’re out—Saiyan hearing or not.”

“Well then what?!” He didn’t yell per say but the frustration was quite evident in his voice. “Chi, what am I doin’ wrong? Talk to me!”

“It’s me, not you!” Her voice crumbled a bit.

Wind blown from his sails, poor Goku was even more confused. “You? Whatta you mean?”

She finally turned and looked at him, tears rolling down her face. “Look at me, Goku!”

Again, utter bafflement took his eyes. “I am.”

“Then you see it!”

“Uh...” he stepped closer, peered into her eyes, walked around her once then twice. “Uh, what am I supposed to see?”

“I’m old, Goku!” She finally declared, spitting it like it tasted bad. “You’ve stayed young, the same youthful man you were when you...left us. But not me. The years haven’t been kind to me.” She gestured to her face, her body. “I’m not...pretty anymore.”

Goku laughed. Flat out laughed. As if she had told him the funniest joke in the world. It was only after a few minutes that he realized her mood had not changed. “Wait, you’re serious?”

With a huff, she turned her back to him, still folding her arms under her robe. Goku wasn’t having that though. He caught up to her, wrapping his arms tight about her waist. “Chi, what are you talkin’ about? You’re just as pretty as when I left. More so even.”

“Goku, don’t be silly! I’ve gotten older. Look at my face.” She pressed her fingers into the small folds about her lips and eyes. Goku could barely see them but apparently this was a big deal.

Scooting along the floor, he stopped them in front of her mirror and he wove his hands up, gently caressing her lips, right at the corners. “I see all the times you grinned at me.” He said simply. “And laughed with me.” He stroked his fingers over the light lines by her eyes. “I think I probably half killed you once or twice when we first got married.”

A warmth flooded her eyes in memory. “You were learning. We both were.”

“But you gotta admit, I hadda learn more than you.”

Leaning against him a bit, she smiled finally. “You did have a wee bit of a learning curve.” She looked up at him, reached up and touched a small indent on his temple. “Even your hard head had its limits.” 

Laughing, he rubbed the mark. “That ol’ bolder didn’t stand a chance. Wasn’t expecting it to roll down the cliff when we were getting wood though!”

“We didn’t expect a lot of things.” She said softly, as if in thought.

Frowning, Goku gently pulled her robe open, laying his head on her shoulder. “Chi, I really don’t get what’s bugging you so much.” He cupped his hands under her breasts, teased them a bit. “You fed my kids with these things.” Rubbing his thumb over a light mark on her left breast, he said, “And Gohan marked you for it.”

“He was teething,” she countered but her mind wandered in nostalgia. “He ate so much but he was still so small.”

Goku trailed his fingers over her, brushing over the stretch marks she always used to fret over so much. She had a few more of them now. “These. They’re beautiful, Chi.”

“Beautiful? Not how I’d describe them. They’re...marring.”

Shaking his head, resting his chin on her shoulder, Goku remarked. “No. Not to me. Each one of them reminds me that you loved me enough to carry kids for me. To birth them for me. I know how hard Gohan’s was on you. But you just smiled and took it. When you gave birth, Chi, I thought I might lose you but you stuck with it. You looked so tired. And I could FEEL that pain. Well, not completely but—“

A low chuckle “I get it Goku. I was proud to carry your kids.” She held a hand to her flat stomach. “Our kids.”

“See? After all the pain and stuff from the first one and you did it again.” He traced one of the marks he didn’t remember from before he left. “You did it all again.”

“I was proud to.” That had been hard, a lonely and painful experience. Her poor Gohan had stepped up to help where he could. It had not been the same but she had endured. Goten had been worth all the pain, same as his brother. “I’ve always been proud to.”

Goku nodded. “But I don’t think I tell you thanks enough for it.” He brushed his fingers over a mark on her shoulder. “I think this was where I got a little too into it the first time, huh?”

“It was.” Tracing his arm, she settled on his bicep, on a small discoloration. “And that was when you took a blast that ricocheted from Gohan’s training to keep it from hitting me.”

Shaking his head, he said, “Kiddo was gettin’ careless with it. Never saw the color drain from his face so fast.”

ChiChi reached up, rubbed her hands over a light ridge on Goku’s shoulders. “That was where my nails dug into you on our honeymoon, wasn’t it?”

Grinning, Goku said, “I liked it!”

“You would,” she said with a light half-laugh.

Goku diverted her eyes back to the mirror. “That’s what I mean though, Chi. We’re both banged up and marked but I’m proud of the marks. I asked them to give them back to me in Other World.”

She stared “You did?”

“Yeah. They erased ‘em at first but I tol’ ‘em I wanted ‘em back. I was proud of the marks!” He added “And where Other World messed with my sense of time, I could always use ‘em to recenter and ‘member you and Gohan.” Shaking his head, he said, “So many of those guys just forgot their families and I dunno how. Forgetting you and Gohan...that’d be like forgettin’ who -I- was!”

Her voice caught, “Goku.”

“It’s true. You, Gohan and now Goten too! You’re all pieces of me.” He held her tight, a light squeeze. “That’s why I don’t get it when you say these things are ugly. They’re our life! How can that be ugly?”

ChiChi considered this. She looked at herself, looked at Goku, ran her nails over one of his scars. “I don’t think your marks are ugly.”

“So why think yours are?” Goku countered. He rested his chin on her shoulder again. “Cause I sure don’t think they are.”

She was quiet, pondering everything a long moment. “I suppose...when you phrase it that way, they aren’t. They’re milestones. Markers of our life. I guess I just wanted to be as beautiful for you as you are to me.”

He laughed again. “Chi, you’ll always be beautiful to me.” He kissed her neck again and this time she leaned into it. “I missed you.”

“I...missed you too.” Words were inadequate. It was more than miss. It was longing, pining and a barrenness to her soul that had only just now gone away. 

But he was here. He was home. A new step in their lives. Oh, the memories she would be able to recall from this. The wondrous joy at being whole again. 

Goku was right. She was a part of him as he was a part of her. Not in a way anyone could understand but truth nonetheless. 

She reached up, dug her nails into his hair and pulled, if only so slightly. “Let’s make some new memories.”

If the light nibble on her collarbone was any indication, he was way ahead of her.

Memories could be fickle things—good and bad, vague and sharp. She gleamed with pride that she carried marks of them with her.


End file.
